Match Poker is a team-based online poker game that has been around since 2013. In Match Poker, teams of four play poker at four different tables. The same hole cards are dealt on all tables and every team can only receive a starting hand once, meaning all teams will receive all starting hands. Stacks are reloaded at the start of each hand and the board is also the same on all tables.
Since players compete with the same stacks, cards and boards as their opponents, the luck factor is decreased. Because of this, the International Federation of Poker (IFP) considers Match Poker an eSport, not gambling.
Match Poker recently attracted the attention of two huge companies. Oceans Sports & Entertainment, one of the leading sports companies in China and the Asian Pacific area was the first company to strike a deal with Match Poker, and a couple of days ago, Alibaba Sports, a subsidiary of one of the biggest e-commerce companies in China, Alibaba Group also decided to start backing the project.
Alibaba Group is present on the New York Stock Exchange and is valued at $173 billion. With this evaluation, they are more than four times bigger than the second company on the poker market, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. The sports section of Alibaba was launched last September and their services include everything from sports events to sports media and ticket distribution.
Oceans Sports & Entertainment and Alibaba Sport have huge resources to promote Match Poker in China and in other Asian countries and if they manage to achieve a mainstream following for the game, it could have a large positive impact to the whole poker market.
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